A missed chance to fix the electoral process

The two-day debate on electoral reforms in the Lok Sabha produced more heat than light, and fell to the level of mutual recriminations and slander that parties and leaders resort to during election time. India needs electoral reforms, given the widely discussed issues such as the influence of money in elections and the increasing reliance on various malpractices. Public trust in the Election Commission of India (ECI) — the institution tasked with the ‘superintendence, direction and control’ of elections — is at its lowest. But the problem goes beyond the conduct of elections. The standards of political parties and candidates have fallen, and their conduct has often contributed to weakening and vitiating the electoral process. Elections are seen merely as a means to gain power, rather than a fundamental process of democracy. What is not realised is that the vitiation of the election process results in the vitiation of democracy itself, leading to the delegitimisation of parties and politicians. 

Rahul Gandhi, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, reiterated his allegations about the failures and decline of the ECI, its subordination to the government, and the ‘vote chori’ disclosures in which he has invested significant political capital. The controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) also came under scrutiny, along with related issues such as irregularities in the voters’ lists, deletion of names, and the politics behind the exercise. There were demands for machine-readable electoral rolls, retention of CCTV footage — currently deleted after 45 days — and removal of the ECI’s legal immunity. Gandhi accused the ECI of colluding with the government, and warned that “we will change the law retrospectively, and we will come looking for you.” Most of the issues raised by him and other Opposition members reflected the positions they have taken in recent months regarding elections and the ECI. 

The government dismissed the Opposition’s concerns as neither genuine nor legitimate, and defended the SIR as an exercise undertaken by the ECI to cleanse the election process. Home Minister Amit Shah strongly articulated the government’s and the ruling BJP’s established positions. He returned the ‘vote chori’ charges against the Congress in the same coin, and asserted that the Opposition was complaining about the elections and the ECI because it was losing the elections. He strongly defended the revision of the voters list as an exercise to keep “infiltrators” out, even though the Bihar SIR has not shown any major presence of foreigners on the rolls. With political charges and counter-charges dominating the debate, it was a missed opportunity to reflect calmly and effectively on the election process, and find remedies for its ills.